Cable operators agree to freeze analog-to-digital moves until after cutover
by Darren Murph 
posted Dec 18th 2008 at 8:27AM
Cable companies have been moving analog stations to digital tiers for quite some time now, using the shifts to free up bandwidth and expand the amount of stations they carry. Separately, broadcast stations (you know, those ones you can pick up with an OTA antenna) are being forced to beam out signals in digital-only this coming February. The two scenarios have nothing to do with one another, but it's evidently difficult for the average consumer to grasp that -- particularly when cable carriers are accelerating analog-to-digital transitions in order to "encourage" the purchase of digital tiers and corresponding set-top-boxes. To that end, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association has agreed that all cable companies will freeze their own personal switchovers until the national broadcast cutover is complete, which will hopefully solve some of the confusion. We have a hard time believing outfits like Comcast signed on without a fight, but either way, it looks like those digital tiers won't be growing out of control between December 31st and February 17th, 2009.
Filed under: Industry, Regulatory, Cable
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jaxim @ Dec 18th 2008 8:36AM
I don't have a set top box and will never get one. I use Media Center as my DVR and the set top boxes are too restrictive using Media Center. If and when the cable companies move to all digital and thus forcing people to purchase the more expensive cable subscriptions, I will stop getting my TV from cable and get it from the Internet - Hulu.com, CBS.com, etc.
Ben @ Dec 18th 2008 8:42AM
The real reason why the cable companies want to move the channels is because the analog versions are bandwidth hogs. I mean how many people realize that cspan uses about 10x more bandwidth (38mbps) than they have for Internet access?
Jeff @ Dec 18th 2008 9:13AM
Cable operators never miss a moment to increase costs to end consumers. I know the old analog channels use tons of bandwidth and hopefully this will mean more and more HD. But, companies are now moving channels to new "tiers" and then charge more for these channels. In the end it simply means if you want the same channels you have to pay more. RCN also has taken the opportunity to scramble any clear QAM HD channels as part of the conversion. I also can't wait until online services are on par with what you currently get from a cable company as I feel the cable companies are in for a rude suprise when this happens.
keith @ Dec 18th 2008 12:09PM
It's illegal to scramble the locals. Are they scrambling those?
glenn s @ Dec 18th 2008 11:34AM
This is an asinine move, but whatever. I fully expect my analog cable signal to go away eventually, and I'll lose most of the channels that I can watch on my PC with analog cable. I also have an HDHomerun, which works great and the picture is much better than analog cable on my connected PCs, but the clear QAM channel selection on Comcast SUCKS A$$. It is barely more than over the air digital. What they should do, but probably won't, is drop analog altogether, have a basic digital cable package where every channel is clear QAM, and only scramble/encrypt the higher tier digital channels. They are just giving me more reason every day to drop cable, and drop my comcast phone line too, and just buy by internet access from them, and an nice roof antenna for OTA broadcasts.
chili d @ Dec 25th 2008 1:48PM
"What they should do, but probably won't, is drop analog altogether"
That's what they (comcast) is already trying to do. It's the DTA transition; not to be confused with DTV transition. DTV only revolves around over the air proramming. DTA is the cable company moving their own network over to all digital. If the cable companies wanted to, they could continue broadcasting analog on their HFC networks as long as they want. The problem is they lose out on massive bandwidth. For every 1 analog channel you can get around 7-12 digital or 3-5 HD. Or you can use the bandwidth for broadband (ie docsis3.0 speeds).
There was an article on here a few days ago that showed a Comcast programming update that is slated for the week of DTV transition. Roughly 40 more channels would be added to the Oregon market as a result of DTA transition.
Jesse @ Dec 18th 2008 4:17PM
I think this is really unfair for consumers. Cable is running around telling everyone they don't have to worry about the digital transition, when the truth is, they are trapping them by forcing them to either pay more in the near future for their devices and service or not get those rebates via the government to get the OTA broadcasts.
I know what is going on, but at this point, trying to explain all this nonsense to my mother is like trying to steal a baby blanket from the grips of a crying child, it just won't happen! If networks can work on a box solution similar to what Netflix is moving to with the Instant Queue, there is a lot of money there considering everyone can get a great picture with limited commercials and it will be supported by any upgradeable Blu-Ray player with a LAN connection.